You can check out the Lemon Verbena Lady at her blog http://lemonverbenalady.blogspot.com.

The summer is almost over and the herb garden has been in its prime, but I'm already thinking about next year's herb garden. You should be as well. I must admit for the most part, I am an herb plunker or plant plunker. Here is a section of our back garden. 

This is our multichromatic herbal backyard garden.
Photo by Nancy Heraud

I took a color class when I studied for my horticulture certificate and I remember the teacher saying it was harder to design a multichromatic garden than any other garden. You see a lot of different flowers, textures and colors in the first photo. Even though I may be a plunker, if you are overwhelmed by the whole picture, pare it down to a small herbal vignette.

Anise hyssop, 'Berggarten' sage, 'Moonshine' yarrow and rue in a small herbal vignette.
Photo by Nancy Heraud

In the second photo, you can see the anise hyssop on the left and the 'Berggarten' sage, 'Moonshine' yarrow and rue. You could do multiples of each of those herbs to make a big statement.  I decided to add red-flowered sage, black-eyed Susan, which was an existing plant and pink-flowered bee balm. In the big picture, I think it is an herbal combination that works.

My fellow blogger, Patsy Bell Hobson, showed us a beautiful variegated sage called 'La Crema' in her post last week. I thought I might have the same plant that has thrived in my garden for the past two seasons. I have discovered that I have a variegated 'Berggarten' sage, similar but not the same as 'La Crema'. I would say that the leaves are as oversized as they are in a regular 'Berggarten' sage.

You may also lose the focus of your herbal design when aggressive herbs crowd out the real herbal stars of the show. My variegated sage was being crowded out by my pineapple mint, comfrey and lamb's ear.

Aggressive herbs are trying to take over my herbal stars!
Photo by Nancy Heraud

Here is a cleaned up version of the small herbal vignette.

'Berggarten' sage, broadleafed thyme and creeping thyme shine in an herbal vignette.
Photo by Nancy Heraud

I love herbs because of their sizes, textures and colors. This is the variegated 'Berggarten' sage, a broadleafed thyme and a small creeping thyme. Hopefully when you start with a few herbs in small herbal vignettes in your existing design, you will not be overwhelmed by the herbal design process.   

If you have herb questions, please feel free to leave me a comment or e-mail me at lemonverbenalady@hotmail.com. Talk to you soon.

Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.com/ and read her travel writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-1948-Ozarks-Travel-Examiner.

Hort Couture is a company that offers "the most sought after new plants and genetics from the world's best breeders and plants people," according to their website. One of their more popular plant collections is Culinary Couture, a line of fashionable heirloom vegetables and herbs. 

So far, I've grown the following plants with panache this summer: Salvia officinalis 'La Crema', 'Black Krim' (an heirloom tomato) and the worldwide hit ' Tomaccio' (a new dried snack tomato). I'll share the results of my tomatoes later this year. (It will be more than a month before I'll have dried tomatoes and a final report.)

One of my favorite herbs from Culinary Couture is ‘La Crema’, a fragrant, variegated sage that is currently thriving in my Zone 6 garden. Reminiscent of the familiar common garden sage, 'La Crema' is aromatic and beautiful enough to be in the flower garden. 

Look for 'La Crema' in independent garden centers next spring.
It is thriving in my humid, Zone 6 garden.
Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

What I'm most excited about is using this flavorful herb in my family's cornbread and sage dressing this Thanksgiving. I suggest that you use this sage as you would any other garden sage. Low-growing sage can grow as a border plant in a perennial garden. In spring, blue sage flowers appear about the time chives have blossomed. The flowers also make a pretty bouquet or can be used as an edible garnish.

  
Photos by Patsy Bell Hobson

Hort Couture is the fastest growing plant brand in North America. Their plant collections include Avant Garde Annuals, Prêt a Porter Perennials, Tres Chic Tropicals, Culinary Couture and Sunny Succulents. 'La Crema' is from C. Raker & Sons, a wholesale plant propagation specialist based in Litchfield, Michigan. C. Raker & Sons is in partnership with Hort Couture, the fashionistas of the plant world.

Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

Have you ever bought herbs from Hort Couture? What do you think of their products?

Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage ( www.theherbcottage.com ) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state. 

It's full summer here in Texas. The afternoon temperatures regularly hit the mid to upper 90s with the heat index, or "feel like" temperature, anywhere around 105 to 108 degrees. In other words, it's hot!! I usually finish my gardening in the early morning, if at all. I still have beds that were overtaken by weeds due to the spring and, more recent, rains. I'm getting them cleared out little by little. I'd like to have fall flowers, which means that I have to clear the beds out now for that to happen.

In the herb garden, though, I did get my parsley and soapwort cleared out so that I could plant my specialty basil plants. The bed looks so nice now, all newly planted and mulched.

Preparation for the new herb bed.


All the plants laid out.


Plant and water!
Photos by Cynthia Meredith

Some of the basils I planted are different varieties of African and Indian basil. I also planted a Serrata basil, which is a sweet basil with serrated edges on the leaves. It has a traditional sweet basil flavor.

The African types are called Ocimum canum 'Mtule', and lime-flavored 'Kivumbasi'.

You should grow 'Mtule' as an annual, according to Horizon Herbs.

This is a handsome, upright African bush basil that becomes woody with age. Within its native range, the arching, reddish seedheads are a common sight throughout the wildlands. The plant is similar to wild Vana Tulsi and is very high in Eugenol. Eugenol is oil of clove, and interestingly the local use of 'Mtule' follows the same use that is commonly employed for oil of clove—as an antiseptic and pain reliever for dental woes. Among other uses, local people give the fresh leaves to children to allay pain of teething.  This plant prefers full sun and is not picky about soil, growing well in regular garden soil, even waste places, abandoned fields, etc. —Horizon Herbs

African basil (Ocimum canum) is rare and tastes like mint, according to Horizon Herbs. It can be used as a tea to combat persistent headaches, migraines, fevers, worms and rheumatis. It can also be used as an incense to welcome newborns and to drive away evil spirits.

Kivumbasi has a very strong lime scent and flavor. It is a small plant that flowers under one foot tall.

The varieties of tulsi that I planted are all Ocimum sanctum, or Holy basil. The three types are Rama Tulsi, Vana Tulsi, which if kept from freezing will be a perennial, and Krishna Tulsi, a purple-stemmed variety.

According to Horizon Herbs, planting these tulsi varieties by your doorstep is said to bring good luck.

Tulsi is considered to be adaptogenic in its effects, and among the many documented uses are the following: stress reduction, immune enhancement, promoting longevity, improving metabolic oxygenation, increasing endurance, fighting infections, and improving digestion. Tulsi is also a rich source of bioavailable vitamins and minerals. —Horizon Herbs

Basil does so well here in general because of the heat and I'm excited about the different varieties I've planted. The grasshoppers have only attacked the Tulsi Rama, but I think it will recover. (I have more plants if it doesn't.)

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you know I lost the trunk of my lemon eucalyptus tree. Here is a picture of the new growth. Wow!! Fast!

Photo by Cynthia Meredith

I hope you're all surviving the summer, keeping cool with herbal tea from your garden and harvesting your herbs for vinegars, pesto and summer salads!

 Do you have any basil in your garden? Let us know!

Growing an herb garden is a pleasure for those lucky enough to have a plot nearby, not to mention useful. Fresh herbs add that extra “something” to culinary pursuits and are beneficial to your health in countless ways. Unfortunately, starting an herb garden is not always practical, or even possible. If you are like me, living in an apartment defeats most gardening attempts. Others find that an urban lifestyle, unruly weather or lack of sunlight thwart their herbal plans.

Bringing the garden indoors is an undemanding way to satisfy a green thumb. If you’ve been itching to dig into some dirt, but are prevented by environmental difficulties, this may be the method to try. There are a number of herb staples that will grow inside, which include basil, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.

Thyme grows easily indoors as a potted plant.
Photo by ccharmon/Courtesy of Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9439733@N02/

To get started, check out The Herb Companion’s list of the Top 8 Gardening Products for Fall for some nifty tools. Some of the products are aimed toward the more experienced gardener, but others, such as the garden ladder, will benefit your indoor garden and could even be built from scratch by those who are particularly handy.

Using shelves is an efficient use of space for an indoor garden.
Photo by Rob 'n' Rae/Courtesy of Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_cornelius/

Once you’ve gotten some starter materials together and have happily begun your indoor herb garden, monitor your progress and find help with any questions from www.indoorherbgarden.org. This website provides excellent tips and information exclusively aimed toward the indoor herb gardener.

Here’s to a practical and entirely possible indoor garden!

You can check out the Lady Lemon Verbena at her blog http://lemonverbenalady.blogspot.com.

The other day, I cut back my angelica seeds so that we wouldn't end up with thousands of plants. As it is, we ended up with hundreds.

I talked about how angelica is a big, beautiful herb and although I still believe that, I now have some reservations. You see, I have psoriasis on my hands. In the summer, my hands are pretty good; in the winter, I have lots of issues. So I don't always think of my skin problems when it is summertime and I'm in the garden.

Angelica seeds in the early spring season.
Photo by Nancy Heraud.

Have you ever gone to a garden center and found a plant that is begging to be bought and planted in your garden? For me, that is usually the one that turns out to be very invasive, and I don't read about it until it is too late! I read about angelica's problems after my first post, and soon after I cut the seeds from the angelica. I usually wear gloves for everything I do in the garden, but I didn't for this. Big mistake!

Angelica's seeds right before cutting.
Photo by Nancy Heraud.

In Jekka McVicar's New Book of Herbs, she cautions that all angelica species may cause skin photosensitivity or dermatitis when touched. She also says to avoid taking angelica medicinally if you are diabetic. I went to the Mayo Clinic website and clicked on Contact Dermatitis and found a photo that looks like my arm after gardening without gloves.

Lemon Verbena Lady's Contact Dermatitis!
Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic.

Now I'm using hydrocortisone 1 percent cream and am hoping my dermatitis will get better soon. At minimum, I will wear long sleeves and pants when tackling the angelica, or call on The Herbal Husband to help. Hope you have an herbal assistant in your life to help with those sensitive herbal chores. 

Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.com/ and read her travel writings at http://www.examiner.com/x-1948-Ozarks-Travel-Examiner.

A plastic picnic knife makes a great gardening tool. I tend to be a frugal person and my frugal gardening suggestion this time is to recycle plastic forks, spoons and knives to make plant markers and plastic bag openers. In the summer season, you will probably use plastic flatware at a picnic and, unfortunately, most of it will go into the trash.

  
Plastic bags open quickly with a plastic knife.
Photo by Pasty Bell Hobson

But, you can recycle plastic flatware from picnics and to-go purchases. (It isn't considered recycling if you buy flatware specifically for this purpose!) So, if you happen to use plastic flatware this summer, recycle it for garden use and you will keep one more thing out of the landfill.

Recycle plastic picnicware into plant markers.
Photo by Pasty Bell Hobson

Do you recycle household items in your garden? Let us know!

As a child I spent my summer days soaking up the warm sun by the pool and eating Popsicle after Popsicle. My nights consisted of my siblings, neighborhood kids and myself staying out at night playing hide-and-go-seek and catching fireflies. Summer officially started when the fireflies were out magically lighting up the meadow behind my house. Now, as a young adult, summer still begins when I see the first firefly of the season.

Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, moon bugs, blinkies or glow worms, play a very important role in and out of the garden. As a young tyke, a firefly feeds on little fiends like slug and snail larvae, which can destroy a garden. As an adult, fireflies don’t bite, pinch or attack humans and do contain any types of poison. But, the insects do contain two rare chemicals called Luciferin and Luciferase that are used in cancer, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and heart disease research. These chemicals help the firefly produce light. The nocturnal insects spend their nights flying and lighting their tails to attract mates. Each species of lightning bug (there are over 136 species!) produce a unique pattern of flashes in order to attract the correct species.

Fireflies are a summertime favorite among many children.
Photo by James Jordan/Courtsey Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/

But, like our friend the ladybug in The Lost Ladybug Project, the firefly population started to diminish in recent years—without a known cause. Researchers blame humans, especially development and light pollution, for the disappearance. The website Firefly: Enigmatic. Enchanting. Endangered. advocates that this mysterious disappearance needs to end. The website is filled with information about this problem.

Courtesy www.firefly.org.

Let’s start with the first major issue: development. Firefly larvae thrive in rotting wood and moist areas. Most species live in fields, forests and marshes. So when humans decided to pave over these firefly-rich lands, the insects could not survive. The second major issue is light pollution. Scientists think that lights from cars, houses and streetlights negatively affect a firefly’s light patterns. This interruption of patterns makes mating more difficult, which results in fewer larvae hatching in the spring.

Turn your garden into a certified lightning bug home through the Natural Wildlife Federation. The Firefly website offers the different qualifications your garden will need to become certified. Check it out! You can also keep the magic of summer nights alive by helping out the researches at the Boston Museum of Science. Submit where you have spotted fireflies at the Firefly website.

Do you have any childhood memories of fireflies? Do you have fireflies in your garden? Let us know!